For the First Time in Forever
by Cynder2013
Summary: During the first meal with the four kids from the Isle of the Lost, Prince Ben realizes that his work to help the people there isn't done yet.


For the First Time in Forever

Auradon Prep was a much larger school than Dragon Hall, in terms of physical size, not the student body. Where Dragon Hall was bursting at the seams on days when everyone actually came too school (which wasn't often), Auradon Prep had more unused rooms than it knew what to do with. Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay got lost in some of those rooms when it was time to go downstairs for dinner.

"Haven't we been here already?" Carlos asked when they entered a large room filled with furniture covered by white sheets. "Twice?"

"Nope," Jay said.

He went over to a dressing table sitting in one corner and started looking through its drawers. "Hey, a pocket watch! Score!"

Evie looked in the mirror above the dressing table. "Why didn't someone tell me my lipstick was wearing off?"

Mal clapped her hands. "Focus, people! Do you want to miss dinner?"

Jay shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time," he commented, but he rejoined Mal and Carlos, pulling Evie along with him.

"Does anyone have a map?" Carlos asked.

"Shouldn't you have asked that before we left our rooms?" Mal shot back. "No."

Evie sighed and absentmindedly took out her own mirror to finish reapplying her lipstick. She looked down at it and let out a shout that immediately made her friends look at her. She held up the mirror with a smile.

"Duh," Mal said. Obvious solution was obvious.

Several botched rhymes from Evie and one map of Auradon Prep from the magic mirror later, the four teenagers from the Isle of the Lost entered the dining hall of Auradon Prep half an hour after the start of dinner. The serving dishes had already been picked over, the jugs of fruit juice were nearly empty, and overall the only stuff that was left was burnt, limp, or otherwise unappetizing.

Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay stopped in the doorway and stared at the food carts in the centre of the hall. They didn't notice someone running up behind them until Doug collided with Carlos's back. Carlos yelped and jumped into Jay's arms. Jay dropped him on the ground, both of them still staring at the food.

"Oh, good, you're here," Doug said as he got up off of the floor, rubbing the back of his head. "I've been looking for you all over. Ben asked me to make sure you got to dinner but you weren't in your rooms when I got there and…and…"

Doug saw what the new kids were looking at and grimaced. "Yeah, all the good stuff is gone. That's what happens when you're late to dinner. Sorry."

Carlos blinked and looked up at Doug. "Isn't _this_ the good stuff?"

"At home, this is the good stuff," Mal agreed. "Come on."

The four of them went to get their dinners, leaving a confused Doug behind.

After they'd filled their plates (actually filled them, like full plates, for the first time in forever) Mal saw Ben waving them over to his table. She pointed him out to her friends and they all shrugged.

"May as well," Evie said.

They sat down and Audrey wrinkled her nose at what was on their plates. "Are you really going to eat _that_?"

Jay and Carlos didn't reply because they had already started eating, but Mal and Evie gave matching poison apple smiles to the princess.

"Why wouldn't we?" Mal said. "It's food."

"It's a lot of food," Jay said in between mouthfuls.

"It's really good food," Evie said with wide eyes after taking a bite of burnt, rubbery chicken.

"Is this really what counts as good food for you?" Ben asked slowly.

"Uh, yeah," Mal told him. "What did you guys think your leftovers were like?"

"The chips from Ursula's are pretty good though," Jay said with a smile. "Remember when we got three bags of them?"

"We ate those for days," Carlos mused. "I wasn't hungry for weeks."

Ben blanched. "Are you _normally_ hungry?"

The kids from the Isle of the Lost looked at each other. Jay shrugged. Evie shook her head, nodded, and then shook her head again.

"I guess so," Mal said for all of them.

Ben frowned momentarily before getting a determined look on his face. "Not anymore."

Everyone else at the table looked at each other and simultaneously went back to their meals.

Later that night, while Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay were breaking into the museum to try (and fail) to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand, Prince Ben was up late making phone calls and sending emails. The next morning at breakfast he stood on top of his table to make an announcement (despite protests from his girlfriend).

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I am proud to announce the creation of the new Feed the Lost food program! We will be collecting canned, dried and other non-perishable food items which will be transported to the Isle of the Lost every week. I hope you will find it in the _goodness_ of your hearts to contribute. Keep a lookout for the collection bins around campus. Thank you!"

There was silence and then Doug started to applaud. He was quickly followed by a handful of his cousins and one of Ariel and Prince Eric's daughters, and then the rest of the students in the dining when they realized that not clapping would make them look bad.

Prince Ben jumped down from the table with a grin.

"What was that about, Bennyboo?" Audrey asked with confusion.

"Well, we get everything here, and the people on the Isle of the Lost get nothing. I want us to be the heroes our parents were, to help people," Ben explained slowly.

"But they're the bad guys," Audrey said. "They're _evil._ Why should we help them?"

"They're people too," Ben insisted. "Making sure they have enough to eat is the good thing to do."

"Okay…"Audrey said. She avoided having to continue the conversation by digging in to her breakfast.

Ben looked across the dining hall at the four kids from the Isle of the Lost. All of them were looking over at him. They held his gaze for a moment before Jay gave him a barely perceivable nod and they went back to demolishing the piles of food on their plates.

Ben read that nod as the Isle equivalent of an enthusiastic thank you (which it was) and started on his own breakfast with a smile.

The End


End file.
